In 2016, the Democratic Party became the first major political party in the country to officially call for the abolition of the death penalty. platform this year, published in the wake of a sensational, botched executioncalled the punishment “cruel and unusual,” “arbitrary and unjust,” expensive for taxpayers and ineffective in deterring crime. The document also nodded to people acquitted from death row as evidence of the danger of the government killing innocent people.
During the 2020 election campaign, the Democratic platform reiterated its support for the abolition of the death penalty. When Joe Biden took office the following year, he became the first president to publicly oppose the death penalty—a dramatic shift from his time in the Senate, when he once boasted that the comprehensive crime bill He said he had “done everything except hanging people who cross the red light.”
But now that his term is coming to an end, Biden has little success for the party’s promises to abolish the death penalty. On Monday, the Democrats passed their 2024 Platformin which the death penalty is not mentioned. This year’s platform is the first time since 2004 The platform did not mention the death penalty (the 2008 And 2012 Platforms called for punishment to be made less arbitrary).
Public support for the death penalty is gradually declining. A Gallup poll last year found that 65 percent of Democrats oppose the punishment.
The Democratic National Committee did not respond to an email asking whether the party continues to support abolishing the death penalty.
The outcome of this year’s presidential election is a matter of life and death for those on federal death row. In the last six months of Donald Trump’s presidency, his administration executed 13 people. This ended a 17-year de facto moratorium on federal executions.
At the time, Biden’s campaign website promised with Congress to abolish the death penalty at the federal level and provide incentives to states to end the practice. After taking office, the Justice Department reinstated the moratorium on executions and initiated a review of death penalty policies and procedures.
But that review has had little impact, and the Justice Department continues to fight to keep existing death sentences in place. In January, the Justice Department announced it would seek the death penalty against Payton Gendron. who admitted in state court to killing ten people in a Buffalo supermarket because they were black.
For years, bills to abolish the death penalty were on hold in the House and Senate. “I wouldn’t say the White House was actively trying to get people to support the bill,” said Rep. Adriano Espaillat (DN.Y.), who introduced one of the death penalty bills. told HuffPost earlier this year.
Meanwhile, Republicans are preparing for another wave of executions if Trump wins re-election. Project 2025, an 887-page document laying out plans for a second Trump presidency, was released by a coalition of conservative groups. suggests that Trump should execute every prisoner still on death row. The document also proposes imposing the death penalty in cases of violence and sexual abuse of children. In a footnote, the document states that this would require convincing the Supreme Court to overturn its previous findings. about when the death penalty is appropriate, but that “the Ministry (of Justice) should make this a priority.”
Trump According to reports, to announce his support for extending the death penalty to non-homicide crimes.
Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris’ campaign did not respond to an email asking whether she would outline her own position on the death penalty.
When Harris became San Francisco District Attorney in 2004, she promised “never to impose the death penalty.” She kept that promise, even under pressure, Death penalty for a man accused of killing a police officer. When she ran for California Attorney General, she said she would “carry out the death penalty as the law requires.” After narrowly defeating her Republican opponent, her office defended the use of the death penalty in court.
In addition to omitting any mention of the death penalty, this year’s Democratic platform also takes a clear departure from several criminal justice reforms the party passed in 2020, when the police killing of George Floyd sparked nationwide protests against police brutality. The criminal justice section of the 2020 platform begins by declaring that the system is “failing” to keep people safe and deliver justice. It contrasts the promise of America as the “land of the free” with the reality that the U.S. has the highest incarceration rate in the world, and calls for a “drastic” reduction in the number of people in prisons and detention centers.
The 2020 program includes support for several concrete policies that are either not included or significantly watered down in the 2024 program. These include abolishing life sentences without parole for those under 21, banning police chokeholds, decriminalizing cannabis, abolishing bail, and removing mandatory minimum sentences.
This year’s platform makes no mention of mass incarceration, instead describing the need to “fund the police” and advocating for the Justice Department to fund more police officers. The platform claims that Biden has “taken action to increase public trust” by signing a “historic” executive order directing federal agencies to ban chokeholds “unless deadly force is authorized” – a move that civil rights groups say is the first step toward police reform.
Much of the criminal justice section focuses on the Biden administration’s modest cannabis reforms. In 2022, Biden will pardoned any person convicted under federal law of simple marijuana possession – which did not result in anyone being released from prison. The pardons did not apply to people convicted of selling or distributing marijuana, which makes up the majority of people with federal cannabis-related convictions. And although the Justice Department moved to reclassify marijuana Since it is a less dangerous category of drugs, it has not yet been legalized.
